Proud sister

On Monday, Brooklyn got to hold her sister for the first time!  She was so good and sat very still.  She is so happy to be a big sister and prays for Taylor to come home every night.  

Taylor now weighs 6 lbs. 6 oz.  She no longer has an IV, but is still on oxygen and has a feeding tube.  When they do her feedings they feed her by bottle first to see how much she can do, then if she doesn't take all that she needs they give her the rest in the feeding tube.  I fed her this morning and she took her whole bottle!  As long as she can keep that up, the feeding tube will come out. They are also starting to ween her off the oxygen.  Looks like we'll have her home within the next few days!  We'll keep you posted.

Update

Every baby needs a picture of them crying so they can see later what we had to put up with. :)

But honestly, most of the time she looks like this.

However, this is my favorite.  It's like she's winking!

The current update on Taylor: 

Today she got her chest tube out!  Now she's only hooked up to the nasal oxygen tube, an IV and has a feeding tube.  They started giving her breast milk today and if she tolerates that well through the feeding tube, they'll start her on a bottle tomorrow.  Thanks for your prayers!

Surprise!

So a big surprise came monday night, or should I say Tuesday morning.  I went into the hospital around 1am with small contractions about 4-6 minutes apart, not really sure what was going on and by 2 am Taylor arrived (1:51 am to be exact).  No time for an epideral, I did it all on my own.  Wow! That hurts!  She weighed 5lbs 14oz and was 19 1/4 inches long!  Who knows how big this baby would have been had I carried full term.  She's only 2 weeks further than what Brooklyn was, but almost twice as big!  Average time for a 34 week baby in the hospital is 7-14 days (thank goodness none of this 6 week stuff).  She does have a c-pap that helps her with her breathing, and because of the c-pap she had a air pocket develop in the lining of her lung and pop so they needed to put a chest tube in to help it heal.  She'll have that in for at least a couple days.  So once we can get her breathing and feeding well on her own she can come home.  My recovery on the other hand has been very quick thanks to no meds and no tearing.  I just get tired in the afternoon and need a nap so I really can't complain.  It's been a very exciting week for us and your thoughts and prayers are still needed.  Thanks everybody for your love and support!  Pictures will be posted soon! 

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Her favorite movie . . . for now

So I finally understand why my brothers hid "Little Mermaid" from me when I was a kid after watching it daily for a couple of weeks.  I gave Brooklyn this movie the day it came out and she watched it everyday that week.  Anytime she sees anything that has to do with the movie she immediately yells "MOM, SLEEPING BEAUTY."  I mean anything!  Commercials, billboards, coloring pages, roses, castles, it just doesn't stop.  After watching it for a week straight, I found I could use it as a tool to get her to do stuff for me like helping clean the house and her room, doing homework, etc.  I don't know what I'd do without bribery. 

To my loving husband

Happy Birthday!

(yesterday)

I have to have the most loving husband in the world.  I want him to know how special he is to me.  He's a wonderful father of soon to be 2 girls and a very hard worker.  He has many talents such as writing, playing guitar, singing, a sense of humor, and listening.  I love my husband and hope he had a special day. 

(P.S. He is so hot in this picture!)

It's a...It's a....

GIRL!!!

We went in for another ultrasound today and the baby was finally cooperative.  We will be having another little girl (much to the sadness of my sister who was mostly excited for a craft idea that only works for a boy).  We're very happy.  Of course I would love to have a boy, you know, to carry on the Harris name, but maybe next time.  We're pretty set on the name Taylor Hope Harris.  Brooklyn picked out Taylor and Kristi added the hope.  Her plan is to have three girls with the middle names Faith, Hope and Charity.  I should totally give my boy(s) a middle name from the scout oath or something.  Like Cheerful or Thrifty, something snappy, something catchy.

The great part is that we already have a bunch of girl clothes so that helps out a lot.  The baby is right where it should be developmentally.  The doctors are paying more attention Kristi and her body.  This is where things started to go south when she was pregnant with Brooklyn.  But, the pregnancy has been extremely different and incident free so far that we are very hopeful that there should be limited set backs if any!  We're a little more experienced this time around and so we're a little more aware what is and is not supposed to happen.

So, for all those of you who were just dying to know...It's going to be a girl! 

Help me out . . .

So I love getting ultra sounds at the OB/GYN office.  My doctor seems to do them just for fun.  I don't mind cuz he always gives me a picture to take home.  So the last time we went (Aug. 25) we were supposed to find out what the baby's gender was.  I'm a planner, I've got to know.  Well, these are the pictures we got.

Cute profile!

Okay, now this SHOULD be the shot!  That little plus sign is right between two legs.  However, the doctor said this isn't really a good shot to tell what it is.  He's saying a girl, just because he's not seeing anything else, but he wants to check again next time (Sept. 23).  I'm okay with that cuz maybe we'll get some more pics!  Sorry to all of you who I left hanging with no response or answer.  It's simply because I don't really know myself.  I'm waiting to find out what happens at the next appointment.  To be continued . . .

What a beautiful world . . .

So seeing as blogs aren't really fun unless there are pictures, I'm finally posting some of my own.  Here's some pictures from our trip to Greer.

What happened to August!?

Wow time flies when you have too much to do!  So yes, we moved and I love our house!  I love the whole moving process so much that some of our stuff is still in boxes (note sarcasm).  Luckily it only took us two weeks to get our internet working, but by then I had started "school" with Brooklyn at Noah Webster Basic and it's pretty much taken up all my energy.  Starting a new job can be so exhausting but I really like it there.  

Mike started school too at ASU.  He's working on getting a degree in Graphic Information Technology which he's totally interested in.  So hopefully that means he'll finish!  I don't care how long it takes, just as long as we can keep living in our 3 bedroom house, I'll be fine.

Other fun things . . .

I read Breaking Dawn! Everybody's opinion of it is pretty much my opinion.  I liked it, but didn't.  I can honestly say that I've never been so mad and happy in a book before.  There was one point I was going to throw the book across the room and call it quits, but I plowed through it before school could start.  I just hate not finishing something I started.  I'm glad to say that I finished it and got my closure.  Eclipse is still my favorite by far. 

And P.S. . .  Did you know that a partial draft of Midnight Sun is on Stephenie Meyer's website.  I guess someone illegally posted it on the internet and she was pretty upset about it.  But instead of just getting mad she was nice enough to provide it on her website so her fans wouldn't have to go find it and be dishonestly reading it.  Some people say she'll still publish it, but she almost made it sound like she's postponing the whole book indefinitely.  I sure hope she still publishes it.  I read her draft and loved every minute of it.  I want more!!!  She didn't even get to the meadow scene.  That's what I was getting excited about and then it stopped in the story like 2 days before it happens.  It's not like I don't know what's going to happen in the book, but I want to know what He was thinking!  Ugh . . . we'll have to wait for more from her . . . again.

We went to Greer over Labor Day weekend!  A much needed vacation I must say.  Although staying in a hotel on a squeaky double bed with a 6' 4'' husband isn't really a fun vacation.  I'm glad we were able to get queens the next night.  We slept much better and enjoyed our time with family.  Brooklyn caught her first fish!  A small blue gill, but still quite the adventure.  Apparently she went to touch it and the spine poked her.  Once that happened, she didn't want to have anything to do with fish or fishing.  We're just so glad Mike's grandparents have a trailor there so we have a fun place to "hang" and fishing equipment to use.  Thanks Old People!  

Moving...gag me with a spoon!

I’m pretty sure our family and friends hate us by now with as many times as we’ve moved in the past 5 years (Thanks, Kris). We’ve pretty much moved every year for the past five years. Heck, I hate me for moving that much. Moving is pretty much one of the most unpleasant things one can do. Include moving in the middle of a nasty, humid summer and it’s pretty much the equivalent of childbirth for men. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but with all the lifting and sweating and pain, it’s all we’ve got, ladies. Let us think we’re really suffering even though you really know it’s nothing.

Our new house (yes, I said house) is on the campus of ASU Polytechnic (or ASU East). It’s all the old military housing that ASU now provides to student families at wicked awesome rates. We just moved out of a two bedroom apartment and now live in a 3 bedroom/2 bath house w/ den. It’s about 1300+ sq. ft. and we’re paying roughly the same in rent. Is that nuts!? Oh yeah, and they include water, not to mention free cable and high speed internet! It’s almost like we’re making money on this deal, except we’re not because we write them checks and not the other way around. Anyways…

So, we’re all moved in and in the process of unpacking (ugh.). At least the unpacking is inside an air conditioned building. However, still unpleasant. The good news is that we have a ton of space to put all of our stuff (read crap). We also have enough space to have more than two people over to visit. Yeah!! So we’ll probably be planning a get together in the future. Hopefully I’ll have a grill by then and we can have a barbecue when it starts to cool off.

To anyone who reads this blog that helped us move in any way, big or small, THANK YOU. We’ve been horrible at moving in the past, unorganized and scatter-brained. This time around was so much smoother. We had a ton of help loading up the U-Haul and even more unloading. It went much faster than I had imagined. Thank you Emerald Bay Ward and Family and Friends.

We love our new house. We’re happy in our new ward but will miss the friends we've made (you can always move out here by us, you know!). Please keep in touch whether you’re moving to Connecticut or not at all. Thanks for you friendships, kind words and all the help.

I'M FREE!

So Sunrise Preschool has been Brooklyn and my day home Monday thru Friday for the last 16 months without more than 3 weekdays off the whole time we were there.  And now, I'm free!!! For the next 8 days I'm jobless, well, with the exception of packing and moving to family campus life.  

I don't have to watch 20 kids at a time all by myself for 7 hours straight anymore.    

I'm glad I won't have to worry about coming into work at 6am 

or stay till 6pm 

or working 11 hour days, 

or watching another class because someone called in "sick."  

I don't have to solve other teachers' or the directors' problems 

or dish out lunch while my class runs wild.  

No more lessons plans, 

no more lunchtime trainings, 

no more laundry day!  

I'm FREE!!!! I'm very excited to start my new job at Noah Webster Basic on my birthday of all days. Although I'll be trading one "teaching" job for another, I'm glad this one is more structured and education oriented.  Just the experience I was looking for.  Wish me luck in our new life!  Things are about to change . . .

Twilight (part 2)

So after posting that first Twilight post I looked into some popular fan sites such as www.twilightseriestheories.com and www.twilightmoms.com only to realize I'm way in over my head trying to post anything discussion worthy of Twilight.  I now get all my fixes there.  My favorite site is www.twilightmoms.com.   Also, in the t-moms web site they've posted all of Stephenie Meyers teaser quotes from Breaking Dawn and if you join you can see the discussion on each quote.  She is posting a quote every day until BD comes out.  I can't wait until I get my closure and then, unfortunately, I will move on.  

Get Smart! Don’t believe everything you read…

So Kristi and I went and saw Get Smart last Saturday and we thought it was great! Online reviews tell you that this movie is not good: two and three stars. I, on the other hand, beg to differ. It definitely was not a 5-Star performance by any means but I had a great time watching it.

Steve Carell puts on a great performance as Maxwell Smart. From what I’ve seen of the old show, he captures the character well but adds his own twist on it. You do tend to see glimpses of Michael Scott throughout the movie but that’s mostly because it Steve Carell and that’s how he acts. Overall, I found him very funny (as usual) and he didn’t get annoying, which I was kind of afraid he would.
Anne Hathaway…oh, Anne Hathaway. Anne plays Agent 99 who is not entirely thrilled to be paired up with newly appointed agent Maxwell Smart. She basically spends the whole movie being very good looking and kicking a lot of butt (both of which are, let’s face it fellas, super hot). I like her acting on and off, not just in this movie but in all of her movies I’ve seen. She’s not as innocent as she looks. If you think she’s LDS because she was in The Other Side of Heaven, you are sorely mistaken. For this role, I like her. Not a ton, but enough that it didn’t distract me from the movie. Oh and Anne Hathaway bending and contorting through a field of high-intensity lasers? Ho-ly smokes! (drool) And then to see Steve Carell follow behind her was equally entertaining but in a completely different and less hot way.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is great (in my opinion) in pretty much everything he’s done. This is no exception. I guess since his last two careers, wrestling and acting, are both basically “playing pretend” (read “fake”), it would only make sense he’s good at both. He’s pretty much the only wrestling actor I’ll endorse; him and Andre the Giant in Princess Bride (sorry Hulk Hogan).

This was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, actually much more so that I had expected. Now, granted, there are some dumb parts but that’s really to be expected with this type of movie. It’s aimed at such a wide demographic that they have to try to please everybody and for the most part, it works. The dumb parts tend to be generally short and sparse which is preferable.

For those of you who watched the old series (i.e. Mike Rogan) and those who know about it but have never really seen it, you’ll both like this movie for different reasons. Either way, this movie is highly recommended.

4/5 STARS

p.s. there’s no coda or anything at the end so there’s really no need to stay all the way till the end of the credits. We waited for nothing for you. You’re welcome!

To all you Twilighters . . . (part 1: Theories)

Note to reader:
I did two different posts in one day! I wonder if that will ever happen again. The other is my "tag" reply if you are interested. Since Mike started his "own" site I'm going to be better at posting more often and more interesting than my usual posts. So here I go!

For all you Twilight fans, I type this post. I've been asked so many questions about what I think and heard so many different theories I might as well just put my opinions out there and tell people to refer to my blog. I think this will have to be at least a 3 part post. I'll take my time and make it as interesting as I can so that those of you who haven't read the books might be a little more interested and open to subjecting yourselves to such entertainment. Why you haven't read it by now I will never know.

So the biggest question I think everybody has is:

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN?

Every time I hear a different theory I'm compelled to read the whole series one more time. Currently I've only read through them all about 5 times. So here are some of your theories and mine. Feel free to respond with more.

Theory #1
Bella will change Edward to a human!
Hmmm, I'm not so sure. However, this was one of those comments that got me going home and starting the series again. Such lines from Edward like "I've never felt this way . . ." or how Edward seems to be developing more human like emotions makes me think twice. But could Stephenie Meyer really pull of a switch like that in her plot? I kind of hope . . .

Theory #2
Someone is going to crash the wedding!
Who you may ask? Well, there are a few people on the list, top two being Jacob (How can you have a Team Jacob if he doesn't come back?) or possibly even the Volturi. Maybe the Cullens will have some unexpected visitors again? That would definitely be fun to read through. I hope it happens as much as I want them to be together. I love that Meyer's books do not exclude some real intense action, even if it is crashing a wedding.

Theory #3
Carlisle is the Stregoni benefici!
Remember when Bella researches vampires on the internet when she figures out Edward's a vampire? Her research included the definition of the Stregoni benefici "An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and mortal enemy of all evil vampires." I think there is more to Carlisle than meets the eye. With the last encounter of the Volturi there seemed to be uncomfortable tension between Jane and the Cullens and a hint of bitterness. I hope to hear more of Carlisle's experience when he was with the Volturi.

Theory #4
Jacob will imprint on Leah!
I sure hope so. That will give everybody a happy ending. I like happy endings. I'm sure Meyer won't disappoint me in that department.

Theory #5
Bella's power will be . . .
Okay, so there are too many theories to make it one title. Some say it will be a defensive power like protecting others' thoughts being read or from powers like Jane's. For me that's a little too "force field"-ish, but it does kind of fit in seeing how Edward, Aro, or Jane had no effect on her. She's really good at attracting boys, though not like Rosalie. She's also good at making oposing groups cooperate. Not just werewolves and vampires, but she created a whole group of friends at school that might not have otherwise happened had she not come to Forks. Some even say her power will be turning Edward human. Again, things that make me go hmmm . . .

Well, I hope this wasn't too long for you. My other posts will be about "What I hope will be in Breaking Dawn" and "Silly questions I've thought of and heard." Feel free to share any of your ideas. Stay tuned for more!

Just for you Holly (and who ever else wants to know)

Okay, so I finally have a few minutes. Here you go Holls!

4 Jobs I've had:
1. Carwasher Cashier
2. Day care staff memeber at Hand in Hand Child Care
3. Vocal Lesson Accompanist at Eastern Arizona College
4. Receptionist at Arizona Maxillofacial Surgery (Oral Surgeons)

4 Movies I would watch more than once:
1. Sense and Sensibility
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. She's the Man
4. Steel Magnolias

4 Places that I've Lived:
1. Mesa, AZ (born and raised)
2. Thatcher, AZ
3. Chandler, AZ
4. Gilbert, AZ (Oh yeah, I get around)

4 Places I've been to/visited:
1. Utah
2. California
3. Nevada
4. Mexico

4 Favorite foods:
1. Steak
2. Potatoes
3. Otter Pops
4. Fresh Fruit and vegetables straight from the garden (washed first of course)

4 Places I would like to visit:
1. Church Historical sites
2. Italy
3. Portugal
4. All the temples in the world

4 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Having another baby
2. Moving into a house
3. Mike finishing his degree program
4. Growing old with my dear sweet husband :)

So, I got tagged...or whatever...

Hey, it's Mike. My sister tagged me so here's the info:

4 Jobs I've had:
1. Fry’s Food (bagger)
2. United Artist’s Theaters (best job ever!)
3. Deseret Book
4. Bank of America (no, I’m not a teller)

4 Movies I would watch more than once:
1. TRON
2. Harry Potter (any)
3. Iron Man
4. Lord of the Rings

4 Places that I've Lived:
1. Mesa, AZ (born and raised)
2. Portugal
3. Cabo Verde (that’s in Africa)
4. Gilbert and Chandler. AZ

4 Places I've been to/visited:
1. Portugal
2. Cabo Verde (that’s in Africa)
3. Nauvoo
4. Washington D.C.

4 Favorite foods:
1. Steak
2. Strange foods I’ve never tried
2. Barbecue
4. Mint Julep from Disneyland (okay, so this isn’t “food”, sue me)

4 Places I would like to visit:
1. China
2. Italy
3. Japan
4. A home that I own

4 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Having another baby
2. Starting my degree program
3. Finishing my degree program
4. Start a business with my best friend, Clint

Mike's new blog

So, you can probably tell when I post something versus when Kristi makes a post. Generally hers are meaningful and not random at all. Mine are the exact opposite. So rather than clutter up the family blog with random ramblings and strange internet finds, I've created my own blog to house such gems. Go take a look!

http://www.goldfixe.blogspot.com/ Click HERE

Uh oh...Did we lose you?

Okay, so we changes our layout to something a little more...(insert adjective here)? In that process we lost our list of blogs. I found some of them but I know I'll miss somebody and I don't want to offend or lose touch with anyone.

Please leave your blog address in the comments and we'll definitely add you to the list.

You guys rule,

Us

It's about stinkin' time!!!

Okay, so I've been kind of in denial for the last couple of weeks. However when you want something so bad and you finally get it you just can't stop thinking about it and you keep wondering if you really got what you wanted. Something quite like visiting another continent or country, say like Italy. You know you made the plans, got the ticket, and even got on the plane, but when you get there all you can think is, "I'm in Italy. I can't believe I'm in Italy" when all you really know is, you're definitely not home, something's different. Okay, so that's my analogy. Here's what's up.

WE'RE PREGNANT!

Officially confirmed, 100%, real live baby in my tummy. Here's the real proof.

The due date is January 5, 2009 according to the ultra sound so I'm 9 1/2 weeks. Mike's rooting for next year because next year's benefits include 3 months of paid paternity leave as opposed to the 2 months he will have this year. I'll be suprised if he stays home for 2 months as it is, but it will be nice to have the help. So that's the news! You may now consider yourself informed.

Sweet. Fancy. Moses.

Okay, I like water slides. I haven't been to Sunsplash or whatever in, like, eight or nine years. That being said, I want to fly to Germany right now to ride on a single water slide.

Get this...You hop in what I can only call a launch tube for the human torpedo you are about to become. There's no sitting down waiting for some faux-lifeguard to tell you when you can go. Nope. You enter the death chamber and basically hyperventilate until...sweet release. You either die immediately or choke on your heart as you drop straight down. "But Mike", you say, "I've been down the bonzai slides before. I can handle this." Trust me, this is different. You don't drop straight down on the bonzai. And why do you need to drop straight down? What a silly question. To pick up enough speed for the FULL LOOP, of course. That's right. For the first time ever a full loop on a water slide. Take that Sunsplash!! Your water park just sank another notch on the water park hierarchy.

Check out the video to see how awesomely scary this this is:



I'm pretty sure they have medical teams standing by to remove the colossal wedgies received by this. That and all the hard attacks. You think the splash down pool is super-chlorinated? I bet it is what with all the people getting the pee scared out of them.

via Gizmodo